Simon Kearn’s Supercharged Spoon kitted S2000.

Below is a feature for Simon Kearn’s Spoon kitted, Supercharged S2000. It was initially featured in Total Honda magazine March-April Issue, which you can buy a copy from their website. I loved being able to take photo’s of this car. The Hendy Performance boys really made me feel welcome, hope you enjoy the feature below of Simon Kearn’s Supercharged Spoon kitted S2000….

Back in 2005, purchasing his brand new S2000 from Alan Day Honda dealership, Simon never knew how far into the tuning scene that his car would take him.

Persuading his girlfriend to trade in her old car and take ownership of Simons DC2 which he has owned since 2003, the S2000 was top of the list of cars for him to own. In no other colour than Yellow, Alan Day Honda dealership was where he purchased the car. At this same time, Alan Day had become a Spoon Sports parts supplier, as the saying goes “you don’t ask you don’t get”, Simon simply asked a question to the Honda dealer which would become the focus of his car build for the following years to the present day. The question asked was for a sponsorship to fit some Spoon parts to his S2000.

After a deal was made, Simons car quickly underwent a transformation, first off upgrading to the Spoon Springs, which are known as a high performance spring, they are lightweight with a superior fatigue resistance design. The design also has improved speed of spring reaction, giving a smooth comfortable ride for on the road & stiffer handling at higher speeds.

Next up was the Spoon Manifold, highly regarded as one of the best you can buy in the Honda upgrade catalogue. The Manifold, has been specially designed and tested to produce the maximum balance between peak power and torque, the development of the manifold was extensive, Spoon tested every possible combination of pipe diameter, length, shape. After being extensively tested on dynos, flow bench and driving and circuit tests. The final product is a lightweight manifold which gives substantial peak and mid-range power gains. To finish off the exhaust he got a Spoon N1, which he had managed to swap almost like for like with the Demo car at Alan day for his old HKS Silent hi-power exhaust, which Simon explained was not so silent, even compared to the noise of the Spoon N1. The Spoon N1 underwent the same treatment when being designed as the manifold, being tested in every possible manner, the result, for an exhaust was astounding, the exhaust not only increases power, but reduces weight and shifts the exhaust weight balance towards the centre of the car to improve the cars handling. It really has stood the test of time and is still one of the preferred exhausts in the tuning community.

Also on the performance list was the Spoon drop in air filter, which spoon recommends that due to the design of the Vtec engine that the stock intake box to be used to maximize throttle response. Also focusing on Chassis the car was fitted with a variety of Spoon strut braces, to tighten the chassis and increasing the handling response.

Simon attended a few rolling road days with various clubs he is part of. He had decided the S2000s power figure was the next thing on his hit list, very little research went into his decision to buy into a Comptech supercharger kit for his S2000, he openly admits that, after only a few Emails to a dealer in the USA of the Comptech items and a few alcoholic beverages later, he was sold on the idea. After only a year of ownership the Supercharger kit was fitted to the S2000 and Simon was delighted by his purchase, also fitting along side the Supercharger was an AEM Air fuel gauge and oil pressure gauge to just keep him informed of any irregularities under the bonnet with the new kit fitted. With the Comptech kit, it has been built to provide substantial increases to power from 2000rpm all the way to the limiter, in any Honda engine, this is high especially in the S2000 where you are not shy of 9000Rpm. Seeing most of the gains at the upper end of the Rev limiter with the Comptech specifically to keep the car drivable around towns, cities and ready for everyday driving.

Simon ran the S2000 on the same map for about 6 months and found the car was running lean due to the other mods he had previously fitted. Mase, an American Honda tuner which has managed to build himself a reputable name from across the pond was making a trip over once again to the UK, Simon booked himself in with the almost legendary tuner, bringing with him a smaller pully, belt, larger injectors and AEM ECU. Once the pair met at Advance Evolution in Watford, the transformation of the car once again was underway to make it run exactly how it should be.

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At this point in the S2000’s life, Simon no longer needed some of the original spoon modifications that he had managed to secure in the deal from the Honda dealer, sourcing a Comptech Strut brace which fits neatly over the Comptech after cooler perfectly.

2007 came all to soon and a big decision had came around. To fund his up and coming wedding one of the Honda’s had to go, his wife’s silver DC5 which had already replaced her DC2, or Simon’s S2000. Safe to say, he won this argument. The S2000 stayed, taking up a lot of his spare time now in married life cleaning the car lead to Simon setting up his own detailing business in the summer of 2008. (www.ultimate-detailing.co.uk) After this, Simon took a lot of time off buying parts for the S2000 and building up his cliental base for his business.

In 2010 the Modifications could slowly start to happen again, choosing his new set of wheels was easy, he wanted ones that were used on the Spoon S2000 itself which are the Rays M57 G07WT wheels, in “Winning Blue” wrapped in Bridgestone RE050’s and fitted to the car by Spoon Wheel nuts. To create the stance of the car he has used Eibach 20mm Spaces on the rear and H&R 15mm front spaces on the front. The reason for this, is he had actually done some researching into how he wants the S2000 to look in the future, unlike his decision with the supercharger and after seeing the Spoon S2000 dressed in the full Spoon bodykit, Simon knew this was the direction he was heading.

2010 also bought new Job opportunities for Simon & his S2000, Alan Day got bought out by the Hendy group and the original Alan Day representative that initially had sorted out Simons Sponsorship for the Spoon parts introduced him to the parts director and a room full of Spoon parts. The offer was put on the table to become one of the online sales persons for www.hendy-performance.co.uk with Paul Curry, another local Honda enthusiast, selling the Spoon parts via Hendy’s performance division of the company.

Upon seeing the Spoon Body kit known as the “Spoon Sports S Tai Kit”, Simon simply couldn’t resist and with his new found links to Spoon through his work, he bit the bullet and purchased the full body kit which is made from Lightweight GFRP.

The Spoon front bumper is much more aggressive, big aerodynamic scoops into the lowered lip for increased airflow around the car with greater down-force, with big front fog lights moulding into the bumper for increased visibility at night gives the car a huge presence on the road.

The front wings as you can see have a very unique shape to them, once again fully designed around being as aerodynamic as possible, whilst also freeing up some unneeded weight & looking like it may murder somebody. Along with this, he had the wider bolt on arches fitted on the rear, once again giving the car a much more noticeable presence on the road and on the track.

Managing to source a very rare Spoon Backbox which is similar in design to the N1 but with a 70mm piping from the Cat with a single exit whilst also being ultra lightweight, he got rid of his previous Spoon N1 System for the new one.

Once this was fitted onto the car, he headed to a rolling road day at Janspeed with Hendy-performance and Hampshire Jap cars in early 2011, which the car achieved over 350Bhp & a sound figure at 129DB.

Soon after Japfest, where Simons car sat pride of place on the Hendy-Performance stand, he had the Spoon 3D GT wing fitted to the car. The wing was made with the intention of improved down-force, whilst being made of ultra lightweight carbon fibre with machined aluminium alloy fitting brackets, also being styled to match the rest of the Spoon kit. Along with the Wing, he had a set of Spoon Brake Callipers and Spoon brake pads also fitted to the car matched with the Goodridge brake hoses, these have drastically improved the braking on the S2000. Simon tells me that once these are warmed up the difference is worlds apart from the standard Honda callipers.

With the car still looming in his head, plans for the future have come to a hault, with the birth of his first daughter. The S2000 is no longer practical, just when he has the opportunity to finish it off with the Spoon coupe roof which he has in stock at his work, the project has come to an end and will now be gracing the pages of the online market places. The future still holds a Honda badge for Simon but it is time for him to let go of the project which has been with him for the last 6 years of his life.

Simon is one of the people that shows that with patience, time and waiting for the products you really want, instead of just opting for the cheaper replica version, that you can build a car that doesn’t just turn heads, but stops people in their tracks even if they can’t tell the difference between a Fiat and a Volkswagen. He holds the spirit of a true enthusiast and his car really does ooze this when you are around it. I hope whomever does buy this car, uses it as it was intended, and carries on with the spoon influenced build that Simon has poured many hours and not to mention thousands of pounds into.

Spec list:

Engine

Cicra 350whp

Comptech Supercharger

Comptech After cooler

11lb boost pulley and Gator belt

10w60 PETRONAS Syntium racer Oil

Denso plugs

Gatorback V-polybelt

Stage 3 Competition Clutch

Lightened flywheel#

750cc Injectors

AEM ECU – Tuned by MASE

Fixed trickle charger closed bonnet charging

Spoon Earthing Kit

Spoon Sparkplug cover

Spoon Rocker cover

Spoon Thermostat

Spoon Themo-switch

Spoon Radiator Stays

Spoon Oil Cap

Spoon Radiator Cap

Spoon Cool Coolant (installed)

Spoon Race Battery (summer months)
AEM AFR gauge in pod (new sensor)
SPA Oil temp gauge and Greddy sandwich plate

Exhaust

Spoon 4-2-1 manifold with heat wrapping

Spoon Cat Pipe From an N1

Spoon Muffler Kit (like an N1 but one piece – very rare in UK)http://www.gotuning.com/product_info.php?products_id=1308

Bodywork

Spoon Front wings (fenders)

Spoon Rear arch extensions

Spoon TAI Front Bumper + fog light kit

Spoon TAI Rear Bumper

Spoon Rear Diffuser

Spare wheel removed

Boot lining removed

Spoon Titanium Gear knob or Skunk 2 Gear Knob

Spoon Rear Diffuser

Suspension

Comptech Strut Brace

Tein monoflex coilovers – fast road setup by TGM

5.1 Brake fluid

Spoon GT wing

Braking

Good ridge Brake Hoses

Spoon Brakes disc’s all round

Spoon Calipers

Spoon Front Brake Pads

Standard rear pads

Wheels & Tyres

Rays 57 Motorsport wheels

Bridgestone RE050s all round

Spoon Wheel Nuts

Eibach 20mm rear Hub centric Spacers

H&R 15mm front Hub centric Spacers